POOR CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF TEACHERS IN NIGERIA AND ITS IMPACT ON TEACHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF EBONYI STATE

Abstract

This work investigated the impact of poor condition of service of teachers on teacher education program in Ebonyi State. Three research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. A population size of 11,500 persons comprising teachers in public primary and secondary schools in Ebonyi State were used for the study while a sample size of 1150 persons representing 10% of the population were sampled using simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire titled “Impact of Poor Condition of Service Questionnaire (IPCSQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by four experts in the Department of Measure and Evaluation, Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo. It was trial tested to 30 respondents not included to the main sample of the study who are teachers in private schools, to determine the reliability using Cronbach Alpha of 0.95. Mean and Standard Deviation was used to answer the research questions while the t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. This research findings show that poor remuneration of teachers, low status of teachers in the society and the poor work environment of teachers all have contributed negatively to the perception of the teaching profession. Hence, the youths who are witnesses to the poor situation of the teachers, some of whom have teachers as their parents have no interest in seeking admission into teacher education programs most especially into N.C.E programs. Rather they seek admission to study the courses in which they observe that those who practice the profession are well remunerated, work in good and attractive environment and are well respected in the society.  The paper recommends that government should pay greater attention to the welfare of teachers by giving them better condition of service, upgrade the work environment of teachers. Particularly the government should find the will to implement the New Teaching Policy promulgated recently by the government of Muhammed Buhari. This way the teaching profession will become attractive again and the youths develop interest in studying educational courses even at the N.C.E level.